Fabulae Syrae (Lingua Latina) (Latin Edition)

I've completed all but the last unit of the book, and it's a gem. While it mimics the approach of Lingua Latina, the format here is actually better -- the large size of the book gives room for margin notes and allows it to easily lie open on a table or in your hand, and the woodcut illustrations (for which even the captions are in Latin) create a wonderful atmosphere of antiquity. The texts themselves are marvelous too, and some of them have actually moved me -- always a good sign when you're studying a language. Another reviewer commented that Miraglia is reputed to write Latin in a style similar to that of ancient writers, and it's easy to believe that this is so. The prose consistently uses word order that violates the beginner's expectations -- for example, a noun and its modifying genitive might be separated by an entire phrase -- and in doing so shows what Latin can do when it fully draws on its unique resources. I love Orberg's book, of course, but the qualities I'm referring to seem even more apparent here. I feel I'm finally glimpsing the beauty of the language.

Wonderful stories and fables from antiquity. Recommended for advanced beginners to intermediate level. Still a great book to have for vocabulary and speech. Lege pronuntiaque!

As many have noted, this collection of Greco-Roman fables lightly adapted into Latin makes for delightful reading material for Latin students. Luigi Miraglia has done a phenomenal job of incorporating the structure and method of Orberg's Lingua Latina, for which this text is meant to complement. The selection of woodcut illustration are utterly charming.Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed by the dimensions of the book when it arrived. At 8x12 inches, it feels as if I were carrying a student's workbook or sheet music rather than a Latin book conducive to reading. One wishes it were somewhat more compact like Orberg's Lingua Latina. On the plus side, this does leave rather generous margins on many pages for notetaking but I suspect most intermediate Latin students with a firm grasp of grammar will not need to take notes for a text that primarily serves to provide additional reading material.One also wishes that there were a word list at the end of each chapter that identifies new vocabulary like in LLPSI.Other than this minor quibble the book is essential to any student of Latin who wishes to reinforce their grammar and vocabulary, especially if using Orberg's text. 5 out of 5 stars.

After reading the marvelous Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata it is possible to enjoy the Latin language and extend your knowledge. Prof. Luigi Miraglia retains and developes the inheritance efter Johannes Orberg. The book has been reviewed by most eminent European experts (Cepelák, Tóth, Miranda, Villalobos, Owens etc.). Buy one, you sholuld not regret.

I misread the title when I first saw this book on Amazon. I thought it contained stories from Syria. The title actually makes reference to Syra, a Greek character in Hans Ørberg's book Familia Romana. As other reviews have stated, this book is designed to be read along with Familia Romana (chapters 26-34). However, the stories themselves are not connected to Familia Romana, so if you can already read Latin at an intermediate level, this book works fine on its own.I'm becoming a big fan of Luigi Miraglia. His Latin flows beautifully. His word order and sentence structure have the same "feel" as those of classical writers--something that most modern writers of Latin have a hard time getting right. I'm so engrossed in his narrative I keep forgetting I'm working on improving my Latin. I'm looking forward to more books from this author in the coming years.

An absolutely wonderful book. I have read half of the book and can only agree with has already been said ; this reader constitutes an excellent tool for whoever wants to supplement the Familia Romana series, wants to expand his language skills while learning at the same time all the basic myths that a classicist has to be familiar with. I'm also sure that the stories of this book would interest young students who fail to see - rightly so ! - the interest in translating phrases about august consuls who should decorate statues of godesses with roses or such silly textbook Latin phrases.This book should be in any Latin teacher's library.

I'm still reading the book, and I love the content, but my only complaint is the size. It's has the size of a large workbook, and is significantly larger than Familia Romana. This makes it feel awkward to me.

This is a great read. Only Latin with hints in Latin in the side margins. Just a few English words on the copyright page. Designed to be read after Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata, perhaps along with Roma Aeterna. It adds 500 new words to LLPSI. The stories are wonderful and I am reading them over and over again.

I want to give this five stars, but whomever decided to make this book so much larger than the 2 it accompanies nixed that.

Die Crux beim Erlernen der lateinischen Sprache ist es zweifelsohne, dass beinahe alles, was uns an Literatur überliefert ist, auf dem sprachlichen Niveau eines Goethes, Shakespeares, Dantes oder anderem literarischen Großmeisters ist, und sich somit dem Gesuch, den Text im Original zu verstehen, entzieht. Wie gerne hätte man da doch etwas gut lesbares, an dem man sein Latein frustfrei weiter entfalten kann, so dass man später noch einmal neu gestärkt zu den hohen Gipfeln der lateinischen Literatur zurückkehren und sich an deren Erklimmung machen kann.Wer bei dieser Vorrede bereits energisch mit dem Kopf nickt, muss nicht mehr weiter suchen. Die Fabulae Syrae sind eine exzellente Übergangslektüre, die mit jedem Kapitel ein wenig an Schwierigkeit zunimmt, ohne dabei den Leser zu überfordern. Vorausgesetzt sind allerdings die Kenntnis der Schulgrammatik sowie ein gewisser Grundwortschatz (ca. 2000 Worte). Da das Buch als Begleitlektüre für die zweite Hälfte des Lehrbuchs "Familia Romana" konzipiert ist, empfiehlt es sich also, je nach Voraussetzungen, zunächst dieses anzuschaffen (und zu lesen). Wer allerdings bereits über einen soliden Grundstock verfügt, kann bedenkenfrei zugreifen.Das Buch ist tatsächlich zum Lesen und nicht zum Übersetzen gedacht und diese Konzeption geht auch hervorragend auf. Der Sprachgebrauch ist ein sehr gewähltes, aber durchaus gut verständliches klassisches Latein, das sich vom Vokabular her vor allem an Ovid orientiert. Im letzten Kapitel finden sich sogar einige ungekürzte Passagen aus seinen Metamorphosen, die aber dank des Kommentars an der Seite (der in lateinischer Sprache verfasst ist), gut verständlich sind.Die Texte basieren größtenteils auf Ovids Metamorphosen und den mythischen Erzählungen aus Livius’ "Ab Urbe Condita", was dazu führt, dass die Lektüre nicht nur die Lateinkenntnisse verbessert, sondern auch das mythologische Wissen aufpulliert, ohne das ein Verständnis der meisten lateinischen Dichtertexte geradezu unmöglich ist. Der Erzählstil ist dabei sehr unterhaltsam und die Lektüre bleibt schön kurzweilig.Zwar garantierte das Lesen dieses Buches noch nicht, dass man danach problemfrei lateinische Originaltexte lesen kann, es sorgt aber dafür, dass man diesem Ziel einen großen Schritt näher kommt.

Velocità

Ce livre prend la suite du petit livret Colloquia personarum, et est donc accessible à partir du Capitulum 26 de Familia Romana (Lingua Latina per se illustrata pars 1).Ecrit par le célèbre latiniste italien Luigi Miraglia selon les principes de la méthode Orberg (images et notes marginales pour faire comprendre le sens du texte in contexto), Fabulae Syrae compile une cinquantaine de mythes gréco-romains parmi les plus importants.La collection commence par les aventures de Pygmalion pour finir avec 200 vers originaux des livres 2 et 3 des Métamorphoses d'Ovide.Le classement des mythes suit la progression raisonnée des Capitula de Familia Romana (5 mythes par chapitres), et permet ainsi d'acquérir une connaissance basique de la mythologie classique qui est indispensable pour comprendre et apprécier la culture ancienne, l'histoire de l'art et même la littérature moderne.

I am learning Latin with the 'Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata' series, which this is linked to but is not a necessary part, but I do not have much background knowledge of Roman culture or myth. Whilst the main textbooks give a good background of the culture and history, this is an excellent introduction to the myths.Each chapter is intended to be matched in level to each chapter in the second half of  Familia Romana  (so one can read a chapter of 'Familia Romana' and then a chapter of this book, and so on), but I found that there was too much of a jump between the 'Familia Romana' chapters and the corresponding 'Fabulae Syrae' chapters. Instead, I just read them when I felt ready.Reading these myths in Latin is quite exciting and allows one to feel even more a part of them and they are illustrated with beautiful seventeenth century woodcuts by the German engraver Wilhelm Baur, which, I feel, add much to the enjoyment of this book.'Fabulae Syrae' teaches many new words, each glossed in the usual way using only Latin. It is a large book (much larger than the main LLPSI textbooks) and, quite different from the glossy 'Familia Romana', the paper is quite rough.But all in all, this is a lovely book, with most enjoyable tellings of Greek and Roman myths. Familia Romana